Over the past three years, Insight Crime have been investigating the relationship between the cocaine trade and Venezuela. Part of this investigation focuses in on the role of the state – some state actors who are actively involved, other senior state actors who allow and enable the cocaine to flow.

According to the Global Organized Crime Index – Venezuela sits 18th out of 193 countries around the world for levels of criminality. And is one of only 16 countries that scored NINE or higher out of ten when it comes to state-embedded actors playing a role in illegal activities.

In this episode Thin sits down with Jeremy McDermott, co-founder and co-director of Insight Crime to talk about their investigation and about the link between criminal actors and officials within the Venezuelan government.

Presenter: Thin Lei Win

Speakers:

Jeremy McDermott, Co-founder and Co-director of Insight Crime and member of the GI Network of Experts - Twitter

Mariana Botero Restrepo, Analyst, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime - Twitter

Additional Links:

Insight Crime investigation - "Venezuela’s Move to Cocaine Production: Crops, Chemists and Criminal Evolution"

Venezuela Profile

OCIndex.net

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime